Aditya Kelekar
Tell us a bit about yourself: this information will appear on your page and can be edited later.Tillu
I'm a technology writer always trying to look under the hood of great technologies and how they impact business. Love travelling to hilly areas. Wrote a booklet on Mumbai trains. Now working on one on cycling destinations in India.
5 Travel Musts 4 me: music player, running shoes, copy of Geographic, camera and a bottle of honey :)
Travel Blog Posts
The price of a donkey in Finnish... my trip to Finland, Dec 2011
Published: December 28th 2011Europe » Finland » Päijänne Tavastia » Heinola
December 28th 2011
Jari Tukiainen has just stamped his favourite entry for the harbour competition with a "this is the best" sticker. He hopes the entry is ultimately selected and the competitors' ideas become the blueprints for the harbour's redevelopment plans. Tukiainen and I are doing the rounds at the Helsinki City Planning Department's Laituri building, an exhibition space created by the Planning Department for town planning enthusiasts like him and curious tourists like me. And everyone in between. The harbour area competition was held to tap creative minds from across the world to find ways to integrate the harbour area into the city's urban space. But even the most talented urband planners can overlook some aspect of the city's character that makes it what it is and fail to account for the same in the plan. An alert ... read more
Mankind's enemy defeated -- the Danish Resistance Museum and other places related to WWII
Published: May 26th 2011Europe » Denmark » Region Hovedstaden » Copenhagen
May 26th 2011
The Museum of Danish Resistance A modest building, standing near the entrance of the lawns that lead to the Little Mermaid. As you watch the exhibits, you essentially trace the outline of a square. A small square, and so an hour’s trip is sufficient not only to have a quick look at most of the showpieces but also to contemplate. Denmark was officially a neutral country for most of the WWII period. German forces occupied it in the latter years of the war; an underground ‘Danish Resistance’ movement resisted it. The Museum talked of two types of people... ..Of the decorated Danish officers who sided with the Germans, their arms and their badges of honour on display. Also a note that cited how some of them met their death: executed after the war for war crimes. ... read more
Of fiery German women, my fixation with fixtures, Indians’ best kept secrets… and the photo I missed! ~ Berlin and Copenhagen May 2011
Published: May 25th 2011Europe » Denmark
May 24th 2011
Going to a new place without a guide book has its own thrills. Like landing up in the Arctic Circle wearing a banyan and a pyjama and getting whipped up by the icy winds? ;-) No, I am not talking about that extreme an idea. When I got off at Copenhagen station and walked up the road to my hostel, my eyes feasted on the sight of a group of cyclists whizzing past – all very formally attired and going to work. Yes, I had heard about Copenhagen being a paradise for cycling. But what did that mean? Perhaps you go to your local grocery store on the bike. Maybe even college students skimping on their modest allowance bike it down to their college. Surely, it couldn’t mean that men and women remained faithful to their ... read more
April 28th 2011
no, not the hype.... it’s the real thing!! It’s a wish we wish daily. How I wish I could smell the earth in my backyard, go home to a radiant moon, sleep underneath the shimmering sky. But you want tap water and reliable power and network to give you your daily whiff of online news. “Idhar range nahi sahab,” is a big turn off. Often in India, the closer you get towards becoming one with nature the farther you go from energy and water certainties. But at Auroville you get both, and lots of surprises thrown in too… To get to Auroville’s Matramandir, which is its spiritual as well as its geographical center, you have to get off the main road connecting Chennai to Pondi at the ‘Auroville’ stop…that is, I suppose you have taken the ... read more
January 18th 2011
When in Rome, understand the Romans. I can’t say it was a purpose that I set out with, but rather a purpose that fell in place somewhere along the course on the backwaters (the waters that we never made it!) trip to Kerala. A friend of mine, Tuija, and me had decided to go on a tour of the backwaters in Kerala, but busy schedules until the day of tour meant that we had little time to do background research. What little blog-reading I did on the day of departure provided me with this: among the various backwaters options, Allepey provided more houseboat options, but was also the more polluted; Kollam had fewer, with less of the accompanying pollution. Based on that, Kollam was the obvious choice for the two of us who were running away ... read more
September 7th 2009
A feast of colors at McLeodGanj... and much peace of mind .....notings on 7th Sep, 2009 From the high point on the hill station of McLeod Gang, green coniferous forests stretch for as far as the eye can see and at sunset on a clear day an orange glow permeates the sky. In the right season, the snow line is within eye sight. As if man was competing with the feast nature throws up, the settlements and markets in the bylanes of the hill station boast of their own riot of colours. Green, yellow and red papers in triangular shapes—colors of the Tibetan flag—are stringed across the tallest trees, while the markets have hand-woven hats and mittens in all hues. On my second day at D'sa (Dharmashala), I ran up from my lodgings near the ... read more
August 30th 2009
Activity centers at Dharamshala organize meetings of Tibetan refugees and tourist to facilitate an exchange of views. Sadly, Indian culture is not on the agenda. Like many of his brethren, Lobsang Rimpoche (name changed to protect identity) attends English conversation class every week day at Tibet Hope Center (THC), one of the dozen or so centers catering to Tibetans seeking refuge in the town of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. When Peter, one of the volunteers at the Center, enquires about his progress in English, Lobsang says he is not sure. He repeats the word ‘progress’, uncertain what it means. “I don’t know what you saying,” he finally says. There’s no doubt that Lobsang, who is in his early twenties, has made progress. A year ago when he fled from Chinese-controlled Tibet to India, he couldn’t ... read more
August 22nd 2009
Musical chairs works like magic to break ice with new acquaintances ... notings on 22nd Aug 09 during my trip to Dharamshala At Dharamshala market area, besides a motley crowd of tourists from all over the globe and the local Himachal people, one is sure to come across monks—draped in red garments, hair cropped short and wearing expressions that seem to be frozen in time. I have never had interest in religion, so men of verses aren’t my favorites to hob-nob. But here I was in the monk’s land, and it would be good to know them better. I wasn’t making any headway, though. I couldn’t even decide whether it was more appropriate to smile at them or bow my head in respect. Not sure, I would look the other way and the disconnect seemed to ... read more
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